In modern life, human have become dependent on portable electronics, such as cell phones, MP3 and handheld computers, most of which are powered by batteries. Although the performance of batteries is being continuously improved, the limited energy storage and service life constrain the lasting use of these mobile electronics. Therefore it is desirable to find alternative or supplementary methods to solve this problem from its root cause. It is known that human body contains rich chemical energy, part of which is converted to mechanical energy up to 200W when in motion, so it is ideal to harvest a small fraction of the human kinetic energy to power mobile electronic devices. / In this thesis, first, the previous work done by other researchers on energy harvesting from human motion, especially from unintentional human motion, such as arm swing and leg moving, is reviewed. Then the fundamental principles to mechanically harvest motion energy are discussed, including the mechanical oscillating mechanisms and electromagnetic transduction. Derived from the general harvesting model, four different devices are designed and analyzed. / Shoe is important for human, one of which functions is to serve as shock-absorber to protect foot from the large impact force. As the foot strikes the ground, the shoe is subject to not only large force but also large displacement in the heel. The third new device is designed to insert in the shoe heel to harvest the kinetic energy from foot strike, and at the same time to function as a shock absorber for foot. Considering the stability and efficiency, a spring-slider-crank mechanism is used in this harvester to covert the up-down foot strike motion into unidirectional rotation to drive an AC generator. The spring and slider compose an oscillating system to absorb the foot strike motion, and crank and slider make up the conversion mechanism to transfer the bi-directional translation into unidirectional rotation. A set of gear is used to speed up the rotation. The kinematical performance of the harvester is also analyzed. / The first one is the automatic winding mechanism of mechanical movement. It consists of an oscillating weight, a ratchet mechanism, a gear set and a mainspring. The mechanism can be modeled as a double pendulum when worn on a user's wrist. Its kinematical performance is analyzed with experimental validation. / This thesis discusses the feasibility of mechanical power generators driven by human motion, with the focus on their architecture design and performance analysis. The main objective is to develop effective power generators for harvesting the energy from human motion, and use it to power portable electronic devices. / To directly convert the human arm motion to electricity, the second novel energy harvester is designed, analyzed and simulated. It mainly consists of an eccentric rotor made of permanent magnet, and a set of coils as a stator. The eccentric rotor, as a simple pendulum, acts as the kinetic energy harvester which absorbs the motion from human body in motion. With the permanent magnets on the rotor, the moving rotor produces a changing magnetic field, from which the stator induces electricity. In this design, a torsion spring is also added onto the rotor so that the harvester works even when the motion is on horizontal plane. / When foot strikes the ground, a large acceleration is produced. The fourth new energy harvester uses dual-oscillating mode. It contains two oscillating mechanisms: one is spring-mass oscillator to absorb the vibration from footstep motion, and the other is cantilever beam using the tip mass to amplify the vibration. Analysis shows that the dual-oscillating mechanism can be more effectively harvest the foot step motion. The energy conversion sub-mechanism is based on the electromagnetic induction, where the coils fixed at the tip end of the cantilever beam serves as the slider, and the fixed permanent magnets and yoke produce the changing magnetic field. Mathematical analysis and simulation are included. / Xie, Longhan. / Adviser: Ruxu Du. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-128). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:cuhk.edu.hk/oai:cuhk-dr:cuhk_344517 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Contributors | Xie, Longhan., Chinese University of Hong Kong Graduate School. Division of Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering. |
| Source Sets | The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| Language | English, Chinese |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, theses |
| Format | electronic resource, microform, microfiche, 1 online resource (xi, 128 leaves : ill.) |
| Rights | Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International” License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
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